E85 in non converted car?

Saruman

My car is due its NCT, its booked in next week. My questions, is there any danger in putting in say half E85 and half unleaded into my car to make sure i do not fail on emissions? I should not anyway but you never know.

Its a 02 Scenic if that helps.

Also is there a benefit or is there no emissions difference?

And lastly... if this is fine to do, is there any reason not to do it on a regular basis or would it be a risk without a converter?

E92

Bad idea. Engines that can run on E85 have strngthened valves, and other such modifications done to them, as E85 is more corrosive or something like that.

Maxol have E5, which has 5% bio Ethanol, and that is fine, though there will be a slight increase in fuel consumption over standard petrol. Better for the environment though, and soon enough, it will be the only thing that you can fill up a non FFV under the EU's plans.

Things like Shell V-Power have special additives which are claimed to be better for any car and it's emissions.

biko

Ethanol is not harmful to gas tanks, fuel lines or rubber. That is methanol which a lot of people are confusing with ethanol. Ethanol may dry out cork gaskets, but they have not been used since the early 80's.

Methanol will eat metal, plastic, rubber, skin....and it will kill you!

Ethanol has the about the same corrosive nature as gasoline so it will not harm the fuel pump, rubber, injectors, etc...and you can drink ethanol...it's moonshine.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080108035958AAuKIfM

Will I hurt a gasoline-only vehicle if I use E85?
Yes. Longer-term use of E85 in gasoline-only vehicles may cause damage because of the incompatibility of the alcohol fuel with the parts in gasoline-only engines. Performance and emissions will also be compromised.

http://www.iowacorn.org/ethanol/ethanol_5a.html
Have a read. I don't know what to think.

Sandwich

E92 wrote: »

Maxol have E5, which has 5% bio Ethanol, and that is fine, though there will be a slight increase in fuel consumption over standard petrol.

Are you sure about tha? I thought that E5 was supposed to give same or if anything lower, fuel consuption (depending on engine).

Saruman

No its certainly higher fuel consumption, as in you get less miles for your fill. You do however see a performance increase and its cheaper so balances out.

Neilw

Sandwich wrote: »

Are you sure about tha? I thought that E5 was supposed to give same or if anything lower, fuel consuption (depending on engine).

E5 is higher octane at 99, but has a lower calorific value so a higher volume of fuel needs to be burned, so maybe slightly less miles from a tank. Ive been using it for the past few months and not noticed any fewer miles from a tank.

Neil.

E92

There is less energy in bio ethanol than there is in petrol - that's why it is less fuel efficient.

You'd only really notice it if you had an FFV car and ran it on E85 though.

E5 has only 5% bio ethanol in it, so the increase in fuel consumption would be only a small bit. Cars designed to run on 98 RON fuel might actually be thriftier running on E5 than running on standard petrol(we only have 95 RON in this country, no "Super Unleaded" here, which is 98 RON or similar). They will certainly have more power anyway.

Cars designed for 95 RON will have no more power running on E5. The benefit of using E5 for those cars is environmental(at least in theory, it depends on where your bio ethanol comes from of course).

As an aside, will Mitsubishi's GDI engine run fine on E5? Would E5 help prevent the engine coking, for instance?

derry

I am expermenting with my car several months now and so far no issues on 50% mix ratio

Thread about it here

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=57248225#post57248225

some cars without mods kits can do 100% E85 with no problems
some cars need mods kits to some or all E85

luck of the draw

Derry